CIA chief labels Iran deal critics 'disingenuous'

CIA Director John Brennan speaks at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts April 7, 2015. (Reuters / Gretchen Ertl) / Reuters

Tehran’s acceptance of the provisional agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear program was a pleasant surprise, and critics of it are being disingenuous, the CIA chief told a gathering at Harvard University.

“I certainly am pleasantly surprised that the Iranians have
agreed to so much here,” CIA Director John Brennan said,
speaking about the framework understanding reached last week in
Switzerland. The deal envisions Iran drastically reducing its
uranium stockpile and the number of enrichment centrifuges,
agreeing to an extensive inspection regime and decommissioning a
plutonium reactor.

“Boy, nobody ever thought they would do that at the
beginning," Brennan said.

"I, for one, am pleasantly surprised that the Iranians have
agreed to so much here." CIA Director John Brennan, on Iranian
nuclear deal

Addressing the Harvard Institute of Politics’ John F. Kennedy
Forum on Wednesday, the CIA director said the framework deal was
“as solid as you can get,” and offered the best way of
preventing Iran from building nuclear weapons.

“I must tell you the individuals who say this deal provides a
pathway for Iran to a bomb are being wholly disingenuous, in my
view, if they know the facts, understand what’s required for a
[nuclear] program,” Brennan said.

"Those that say this deal provides a pathway to Iran developing
a nuclear bomb are being wholly disingenuous." -John Brennan
#CIAForum

He credited the unprecedented sanctions regime with bringing Iran
to the negotiating table, but acknowledged the Iranians’ failure
to get their nuclear program to work properly – blamed on the
US-Israeli Stuxnet computer virus – could have been a factor as
well.

The hour-long event was hosted by Graham Allison,
a Harvard professor and former dean of the school who’s been
involved in US nuclear policy since the 1960s.

Brennan’s guest appearance at Harvard appears to be part of the
administration’s media blitz to defend the nuclear deal from
criticism from Israel and the Congressional Republicans. While
the CIA director was at Harvard, President Obama spoke with
National Public Radio (NPR), expressing hope that the deal would
lead to a more peaceful Iran.

“Ideally, we would see a situation in which Iran, seeing
sanctions reduced, would start focusing on its economy, on
training its people, on reentering the world community, to
lessening its provocative activities in the region,” Obama
said. “But if it doesn't change, we are so much better if we
have this deal in place than if we don't.”

Asked whether his possible Republican successor could revoke the
deal upon taking office, Obama said that any president ought to
be mindful of “traditions and precedents of presidential
power” and knowledgeable enough not to question the
executive branch’s capacity to negotiate internationally.

“If that starts being questioned, that's going to be a
problem for our friends and that's going to embolden our
enemies,” Obama told NPR.